€5m cash for Barrett in Treasury ‘deal’

Treasury Holdings’ co-founder Richard Barrett will get €5m cash “with no strings attached” under a proposed settlement of a legal action brought against him and co-founder John Ronan over a controversial €20m transaction, a High Court judge has noted.

That was “a lot of money for a defendant against whom there is an allegation of fraud”, Mr Justice Peter Kelly said at the commercial court. The €5m, he was told, included a €4.8m “success fee” for Mr Barrett related to agreements on disposal of various shareholdings held by him.

Mr Ronan is expected, arising from his proposed retention of a shareholding in Treasury Asian Investments Ltd, to get a similar sum under the complex settlement put before the court for approval yesterday, by the official liquidators of the company and the National Assets Management Agency, Treasury’s largest creditor.